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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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A trio of judges has overturned a High Court finding that compensation proceedings brought for 13,000 villagers against Shell Plc must be run as a so‑called ‘all or nothing’ (or global) action. Justices David Bean, Stephen Males and Jeremy Stuart‑ Smith signalled their conclusion on 11 October 2024 at the end of a four‑day hearing. A detailed written judgment will follow in due course. Counsel for the claimants contended that the lower court’s approach compelled farmers and fishers from the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta to connect Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary with every episode of entrenched pollution in the region, failing which their cases would collapse. Leigh Day, acting for the two communities, told the court this stance would, in practice, render it near impossible for people to bring environmental proceedings following repeated pollution incidents in the years ahead and in the area,...
South Lakeland Action on Climate Change— Towards Transition v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [2024] EWHC 2349 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment brings welcome clarity to the steps required when conducting EIAs and provides an important steer on how the courts will treat applications that depend on ‘substitution’ reasoning. The central message is straightforward: developers and planning authorities must ensure the EIA includes an appraisal of downstream emissions arising from the proposal. It will not suffice to maintain that such emissions need not be assessed simply because they will be counterbalanced or ‘offset’ by some other factor. While the ruling leaves scope for promoters to argue that their scheme has a neutral environmental effect by advancing a substitution case, any material relied upon must be scrutinised under the 2011 regulations, enabling public...
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Air emissions and climate change DESNZ announces £21.7bn funding commitment for CCUS projects The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has confirmed £21.7bn to kick-start the UK’s first carbon capture, utilisation and storage sites, following a commercial deal with industry. Covering two hubs in Teesside and Merseyside, the programme will stimulate growth across the North West and North East. The facilities will trap CO2 before release and store it securely, aiming to abate over 8.5 million tonnes of carbon each year. The schemes are expected to create 4,000 direct roles, support 50,000 jobs in the longer term, and draw £8bn in private investment, helping accelerate the UK’s...
UK developments FCA issues update on CP24/8: Extending the SDR regime to Portfolio Management The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) has refreshed its webpage for consultation paper CP24/8: Extending the SDR regime to Portfolio Management, noting it is reviewing feedback carefully to ensure the framework safeguards consumers while also acknowledging and accommodating practical challenges firms may face. The regulator recognises that some asset managers are taking longer than anticipated to meet the sustainability disclosure requirements ( SDR) and labelling rules, and that this could have implications for portfolio managers. These points have been emphasised to the FCA through consultation responses and wider industry engagement. The FCA plans to publish a policy statement, along with further detail on implementation, in Q2 2025. See: LNB News 27/09/2024 27. Source: CP24/8: Extending the SDR regime to Portfolio Management [ September 2024 update]. For more...
In this issue: Key developments and materials Air pollution and climate change Building energy efficiency Energy for environmental practitioners Regulatory enforcement and prosecutions Environmental permitting and consents ESG and sustainable practice Dangerous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat protection Waste Producer responsibility schemes for waste Water, flood risk and drainage Daily and weekly news updates New and updated materials Trackers Useful information Key developments and materials Assimilated law procedures halted as part of UK- EU 're-set' As part of a UK- EU ‘reset’, the government paused commencement of section 6 of the Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 last week. See: LNB News 30/09/2024 27 and LNB News 26/09/2024 2. Ministry of Justice announces new CPR 68 will no longer have effect from 1 October 2024 The...
What does the report reveal about the extent of the PFAS contamination problem in England and the economic burden of remediating these sites? The Jacobs assessment indicates there are between 2,900 and 10,200 high-risk PFAS locations throughout England, covering as much as 672,000,000m2 in total. ‘ High-risk’ encompasses: airports; military bases; fire stations; landfills; wastewater treatment plants chemical sites; oil and gas facilities; nuclear sites; metal plating pulp and paper manufacturing sites; and ‘ TULAC’—textiles, upholstery, leather, apparel and carpets The true count of PFAS-affected places is expected to be considerably larger. Other sectors are treated as ‘presumed PFAS’ sources, including: automotive; electronics; waxes; paints and inks; plastics cleaning products; cosmetics; and sewage sludge applied to land Jacobs estimated that remediation per high-risk site could vary from £400,000 up to £29bn, with a weighted average of about £9m. They further judged that total...
Key takeaways The CMA Guidance, derived from the Code, sets out detailed expectations for any environmental or sustainability claims by fashion brands about products or ranges, plus steps to achieve compliance. The emphasis is on giving enough information so claims are clear, specific, accurate, and supported by evidence. Businesses are encouraged to implement strong internal controls to ensure the accuracy of environmental claims in line with the Guidance. This means having suitable policies, routine staff training, and mechanisms to check product listings and supplier assertions. The Guidance precedes the CMA’s forthcoming enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 ( DMCCA 2024), which will permit financial penalties of up to 10% of a business’s global turnover for breaches of consumer protection law. The CMA has already contacted 17 fashion brands over concerns about their environmental claims, signalling active oversight and an...
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency in buildings Product energy efficiency Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings ESG and sustainability Hazardous chemicals and substances Nature, biodiversity and habitat protection Waste Producer responsibility schemes for waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Latest Q& A Useful information Air emissions and climate change Law Society opens consultation on climate risk and conveyancing practice note The Law Society has begun consulting on a practice note addressing climate risk within conveyancing. This follows its climate change guidance issued in April 2023. The draft note aims to give conveyancers practical direction on recognising and handling how climate risk may influence day-to-day practice. A panel session on the draft will feature at the Law Society’s Property Conference on 16 October 2024. The consultation period ends on 31 October 2024. See: LNB News 20/09/2024 7......
UK development DBT publishes guidance on development of UK Sustainability Reporting Standards The Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) has issued guidance on shaping UK Sustainability Reporting Standards ( UK SRS), setting out the government's approach to establishing two UK SRS by evaluating and, where appropriate, endorsing the International Financial Reporting Standards ( IFRS) Sustainability Disclosure Standards as the global corporate reporting baseline, namely IFRS S1: General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2: Climate-related Disclosures. The government plans to reach endorsement decisions on these standards by the first quarter of 2025. This guidance outlines the government's framework for their development and adoption. See: LNB News 19/09/2024 40......
Some suppliers have already chosen to stop supplying the EU, and, for now, we do not have the legal clarity to place goods on the market, Pitts said, adding that the consequences of those moves may become evident soon. The regulation will start to apply at the end of 2024. It will require producers and traders of key goods such as wood, cattle and soy, and derivatives including paper and furniture, to demonstrate through geolocation tracking that products are not sourced from land that was recently deforested. How it works It establishes three tiers of deforestation risk, based on countries’ deforestation and forest degradation rates, the expansion of agricultural land, and production trends for the affected commodities. Authorities will audit: 9% of producers and traders supplying these products from high-risk countries 3% from standard-risk countries 1% from low-risk...
Carolyn Roberts, a self-employed environmental and water consultant, has asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal ( CAT) to certify a case alleging that water and sewage operators have abused their market dominance within their regions. The companies are: Severn Trent Water Thames Water United Utilities Anglian Water Yorkshire Water Northumbrian Water Her barrister, Julian Gregory of Monckton Chambers, argued the firms have ‘significantly’ and ‘systematically’ understated sewage discharges into waterways when reporting to both the Environment Agency and the Water Services Regulation Authority, known as Ofwat. Gregory said Ofwat runs a ‘carrot and stick’ regime that caps what companies may bill customers according to whether specified environmental performance commitments are achieved. ‘ The claims maintain the defendants misled Ofwat and the Environment Agency by underreporting sewage spills,’ Gregory said. ‘ If so, they were allowed to levy higher prices for household...
In this issue: Key developments and materials Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental information ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Key developments and materials OEP publishes letter of advice to government on EIP review The Office for Environmental Protection ( OEP) has issued a letter of advice to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, covering the review and update of the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan ( EIP). This follows Reed’s announcement of a rapid review of the EIP and his subsequent request for OEP advice. See: LNB News 16/09/2024 15. Air...
In contrast to the better-known Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (an annual conference, now on its 29th gathering in Azerbaijan in November 2024), the biodiversity COP is held every two years, rather than annually. COP16 follows a high bar set by the 2022 meeting in Montreal, Canada (co-hosted with Kunming, China), where a landmark biodiversity agreement was adopted by parties collectively at that summit. The Kunming– Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (the Global Biodiversity Framework) seeks to tackle biodiversity loss, revive ecosystems and uphold indigenous rights as agreed. Central to the framework is a clear commitment to safeguard 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas, oceans and degraded ecosystems by 2030. It also proposes boosting finance for developing nations—a highly contentious and challenging endeavour to date—by mobilising at least $200bn per year in domestic and...
Vistry Homes Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up, and Communities and others; Fairfax Acquisitions Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up, and Communities and others [2024] EWHC 2088 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? A core tenet of planning law is separating the issue of whether a matter counts as a material consideration from the weight it should carry in the determination. Equally, distinguishing the meaning of planning policy from the subsequent exercise of applying that policy to a proposal. The first issues are matters of law. The second are matters of planning judgement for the local planning authority or Secretary of State. So long as all material considerations are taken into account and policies are interpreted correctly, it is for the decision-maker to attach whatever weight he or she considers...
R ( Global Feedback Ltd) v Majesty’s Treasury and another [2024] EWHC 1943 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? In step with a series of recent rulings on CPR 46 concerning alleged failures to properly engage with obligations arising under the Paris Agreement, the court adopted an expansive, purposive view of what constitutes an Aarhus Convention claim, concentrating on the substance of the claim. The fact that the overarching aim of the 2023 Regulations was not directly environmental did not matter; it was enough that there existed a duty to have regard to relevant international environmental obligations—expressly under TCTA 2018, s 28, and also as a broader public law consideration. Casting the Paris Agreement as a general public law consideration potentially broadens opportunities for judicial review grounded in the Paris Agreement, and for further attempts to limit...
UK developments HMT extends consultation deadline on TCFD-aligned disclosure in annual reports HM Treasury ( HMT) has postponed the cut-off for its consultation on the Phase 3 Exposure Draft concerning Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure ( TCFD)-aligned disclosure within annual reports. The consultation now ends on 26 September 2024. See: LNB News 10/09/2024 37. Source: TCFD-aligned disclosure Exposure Draft for Phase 3......
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Brexit Contamination and pollution Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental assessment Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental information ESG and sustainability Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Air emissions and climate change EA issues five guides on monitoring ambient air. The Environment Agency has released five guidance documents covering approaches to ambient air monitoring. See: LNB News 10/09/2024 17. NSTA releases 2024 Emissions Monitoring Report. The North Sea Transition Authority reports a 28% fall in production emissions across the UK’s upstream oil and gas sector between 2018 and 2023, with half of the cuts delivered through targeted emissions reduction actions. Despite the drop, emissions intensity—greenhouse gases per barrel produced—is expected to have risen due to lower output. See: LNB News 10/09/2024 29. ......
Lipton v BA City Flyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24 The facts The narrative is simple and commonplace. Mr and Mrs Lipton held bookings on a service operated by the appellant, Cityflyer, due to leave Milan Linate at around 5 pm on 30 January 2018, with arrival at London City a little after 6 pm local time. Shortly before departure the pilot reported ill, so the flight was cancelled as no replacement could be found in time. The Liptons were placed on another service and reached London City at about 8:45 pm that evening, a little more than two and a half hours later than planned. They sought €250 in compensation under the Denied Boarding Regulation; Cityflyer rejected the request, arguing that the pilot’s illness was an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ within the Regulation, absolving it of liability. The denied boarding...
Flood Re Flood Re, the state-supported reinsurance initiative enabling insurers to supply reasonably priced home insurance policies to policyholders residing in areas at a high risk of flooding, said a study it asked the Town and Country Planning Association ( TCPA) to carry out uncovered weaknesses in the planning regime in place for delivering flood-resilient new homes across Britain. The evidence informing planning choices on flood risk is frequently out of date and hard to obtain for many, among several other problems which, Flood Re said, are eroding the insurance industry's confidence in the planning framework and its capacity to offer flood cover. Dermot Kehoe, Flood Re's director of communications and transition, said it is 'vital' that new properties constructed in England are not exposed to flooding at all. ' Householders want to feel safe in their home and be assured that it will be......
In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Pollution and contamination Energy efficiency across the built environment Energy topics for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental permits and consents ESG and sustainability Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat protection Lex Talk®Environment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Air emissions and climate change Scottish Government unveils Improvement Plan on Climate Change Delivery The Scottish Government has published an Improvement Plan in response to Environmental Standards Scotland’s ( ESS) investigation into Climate Delivery, setting out the planned actions and timeline the government will follow to make scope 3 emissions reporting mandatory for local authorities, after the Plan was laid before the Scottish Parliament. The Plan addresses the fourth...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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